High Speed Rail link to have 2 million trees planted

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 08 Jan 2011, 11:47

Residents next to the 250mph high-speed rail route between London and Birmingham will be sheltered from the £17bn project by two million freshly planted trees, the government will announce today.

In its latest attempt to mitigate growing public outrage in Tory heartlands over the scheme, the construction of the route through the Chiltern hills and other beauty spots in the home counties will be accompanied by a planting programme.

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Post by **adam2** » 08 Jan 2011, 14:06

I rather doubt that the proposed high speed line will ever be built.
Very high speed rail uses a great deal of energy, invariably electricity.
Whilst this electricity could be produced from renewables, it is likely to be from coal, or at best gas.

Improving capacity on existing rail routes by a return to full length trains might be a better use of money.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 08 Jan 2011, 15:10

Hey I hope they're useful trees. I can see it now, the world's longest linear orchard...

What to do is get the guys to put in the trees right at the start of the project (like they did with the Uni extension here. The rest is a shambles but at least we got 40,000 trees out of them!).

Post by **adam2** » 07 Apr 2011, 09:34

The building of this line is looking increasingly unlikely.
A large coalition of groups are now calling for an "improved" high speed line, perhaps on this grounds that this sounds better than outright oposition.
The suggested improvments consist mainly of re-routing it somwhere else, burying it in a tunnel, or more consultations.
Details here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12993445

energy-village · Post by **energy-village** » 07 Apr 2011, 14:41

I can't see a high speed link being built either. It's a nice long-term promise from politicians who'll never have to deliver.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 07 Apr 2011, 15:17

If they plant tree seeds rather than whips they'll get trees far quicker.

MrG · Post by **MrG** » 07 Apr 2011, 16:09

kenneal wrote:If they plant tree seeds rather than whips they'll get trees far quicker.

Really

How come? Because the whips have to get used to their new home?

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 07 Apr 2011, 16:27

Much as I'd like to bury Rosie Winterton, I'm not sure if she'd ever become a tree.

energy-village · Post by **energy-village** » 07 Apr 2011, 17:18

DominicJ wrote:Much as I'd like to bury Rosie Winterton, I'm not sure if she'd ever become a tree.

Bit of an irony that not only is she called "Rose", she claimed thousands of pounds in expenses for her garden.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 07 Apr 2011, 17:40

MrG wrote:
kenneal wrote:If they plant tree seeds rather than whips they'll get trees far quicker.
Really

How come? Because the whips have to get used to their new home?

The disturbance of being moved stunts their growth for years. Self seeded trees always overtake planted whips.

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 07 Apr 2011, 18:05

What is it with the Tories and trees?

Anyone remember Heseltine's plan in the 80's to plant thousands of trees in Liverpool?

One for every unemployed person in the city as I remember it.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 07 Apr 2011, 19:29

It's the fact that we're all either land owners or wanna' be landowners, Aurora. We have an automatic interest in arboriculture with our estates in mind.

energy-village · Post by **energy-village** » 07 Apr 2011, 19:40

Aurora wrote:What is it with the Tories and trees?

Anyone remember Heseltine's plan in the 80's to plant thousands of trees in Liverpool?

One for every unemployed person in the city as I remember it.

Tories in the 80s? I suspect their thinking was "replace dead wood with new wood".

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 07 Apr 2011, 21:59

I like planting trees wherever possible, and nobody can call me a tory (and live

)

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 08 Apr 2011, 08:57

Who doesnt like trees?